“In a most difficult spot”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Sunday, April 13, 2025
Luke 23: 1-49 (Forward, p. 74) CEV p. 1095
In many ways, I really feel for Pontius Pilate. He was in a most difficult spot, or, to use an old expression, ‘between a rock and hard place.’ The Jewish leaders and their council, the Sanhedrin, had expected a ‘slam dunk’, an automatic rubber stamping of their decision by Pilate, but here they were gravely disappointed. Instead of simply agreeing with their verdict, he insisted in going through all the niceties of a proper Roman trial. That must have infuriated the Jewish leaders who thought that they’d struck a deal with Pilate. Perhaps this is why they changed the charge when they presented Jesus to him. Instead of blasphemy, which they’d found Jesus guilty of, they made up the charge of treason and rebellion: “We caught this man trying to get our people to riot and to stop paying taxes to the Emperor. He also claims that he is the Messiah, our king” (verse 2). That, surely, would get Pilate’s attention if nothing else did.
However, even with this trumped charge neither he nor Herod Antipas found Jesus guilty of anything. But here Pilate was in a spot. Jerusalem, during this season of Passover, was like a tinderbox, an explosive ready to blow at any time, and so any public disturbance, like the one the authorities was presently fomenting, was dangerous indeed. He certainly did not want that on his record. Besides, his record was already badly marred by some of his past misdeeds and miscalculations, and the Jewish authorities knew it. For him, it was basically ‘three strikes and you’re out’, and only that last strike remained to be pitched. And so, basically, it was either he or Jesus. He could have done the right thing, but at what cost? So, he washed his hands of the whole ‘bloody mess’ and left it to the crowd and their leaders.
However, without his ever being aware of it, that went along exactly with what God had planned and the prophets had foretold. And so, even a classic and terrible miscarriage of justice was made to carry out God’s plan.
To me, that is an important commentary on our world today: there is much that is not right, that is not in accord with God’s precise intentions for us and our world. People are certainly, in many and varied ways, not obeying Him or carrying out His will. Even so, God’s will, God’s plan, will eventually be done, and done exactly. He will use even the most tragic and terrible circumstances to His glory, and to His purposes. Thanks be to God.
Forward notes: “Certainly this man was innocent” (verse 47b).
“In the moment just after Jesus takes his last breath on the cross, the Gospel of Luke gives us a bold statement of Jesus’s innocence, a truth ignored except by Pilate, who claims Jesus’s innocence, the centurion, and the criminal hanging beside Jesus who cries out, ‘This man has done nothing wrong.’
“When we read the Passion narrative today and cry out the words of the crowd, ‘Crucify him, crucify him!,’ we, too, ignore his innocence and silence his voice. We are reminded how often we are complicit in hurting others and condemning the innocent. Christ calls us to follow the truth and be a witness for righteousness.”
Moving Forward: “Where can you stand up for the innocent in the face of a crowd?”